GINGHAM RESTAURANT
BOUGHT BY
COHN GROUP

Gingham, the La Mesa eatery opened last year by San Diego celebrity chef Brian Malarkey, is being sold to the Cohn Restaurant Group.

Restaurateur David Cohn confirmed this week that his company will be taking over the now-closed restaurant, which he plans to reinvent as a neighborhood, Mediterranean-style bistro, not unlike two of his other venues, 100 Wines in Hillcrest and Bo Beau in Ocean Beach.

He expects to close escrow on the business deal within a week. “La Mesa is an underserved market, and while there are a lot of great restaurants in the area, we think something a little more creative and design-oriented — but neighborhood-friendly — is what this restaurant should be,” Cohn said. “We have asked a lot of people in La Mesa for input … and everybody seems to like this idea.”

The sale marks yet another turning point for the still-evolving fabric-themed restaurant empire started by Malarkey and partner James Brennan, who opened a number of San Diego nightclubs before turning his attention to restaurant development.

Brennan, who declined to comment on the Gingham sale, has repeatedly said that the Enlightened Hospitality Group, which he and Malarkey founded in 2009, is focusing its efforts on expanding its popular Searsucker and Herringbone restaurants to locations outside San Diego County. The dining group, however, has struggled to replicate its success at some of its other venues as it opened several restaurants in quick succession in recent years.

Late last month, Enlightened Hospitality said it was closing its Burlap restaurant in Carmel Valley and that it will reopen it as a Searsucker, the downtown San Diego dining spot that has been exported to Scottsdale and Austin. And three weeks before that, it announced it was closing the barbecue-themed Gingham.

Cohn said chef-partner Deborah Scott and Operations Manager Michele Kveen will oversee the Gingham makeover, but no name has been chosen for the new restaurant. A key part of the restaurant’s new look will be an overhaul of the patio, which will include a children’s play area. Cohn hopes to reopen the restaurant by Aug. 1.

The Cohn Restaurant Group had been in negotiations late last year to purchase Gingham. “We were really busy at that time and decided to pass,” Cohn said, “and we later had a chance to revisit the deal.”